,Well I'm back. My Torii Mk. III w/ V Caps is finally broken in. And no the one on Audiogon that is or was for sale is not mine. I did email that guy to ask why he was selling and he told me he needed more power for his speakers then I saw the speakers he mentioned up for sale. Not sure what his case is but he's having a hard time figuring out what he's doing I'd wager.I don't have anything to compare my V Capped Torii against so I really don't know what to say other then the amp has a wonderfully musical quality to it and seems to amaze me most of the time, especially when listening to records, which is nearly all the time because there is no CD player in the system and I don't miss that one bit. I do however miss the music on my rather large CD collection. I finally got out some old speakers I had in the attic that have 91db efficiency and the amp likes these well enough. I sold my SF auditors and it's been smooth sailing ever since the amp broke in. Which BTW at times made me think the amp was literally broken. It sounded that bad at times. A solid 1000 hours or more to break it in. That is about it, a GREAT AMP and an even GREATER VALUE. Look forward to new speakers when feasible any ideas???

lovethemusic, I got the same response when I contacted that fellow. And certainly, when I saw the speakers he was selling (fairly inefficient electrostats, I believe), I could see where he did not have the best matchup possible. But as you noted, I think he was having a hard time figuring out his strategy.

Glad to hear the Mk III is sounding so good. As for speakers, well.......

I thought I'd weigh in on this as well. It's a long journey, these V-caps, but worth it in my opinion. I'm using a Torii mkII from May 2009 and in October 2010 I modified the amp with V-Cap coupling caps (note I used the CuTF caps, the copper-foil V-caps, not the tin-foil V-caps). Some background: my amps are 2 years old and have been trouble-free. I added the CCE/Hazen grid mod about 1.5 years ago, then the V-caps about 13 months ago. I knew these would take a long time to break-in....and they did, right at about 1000 hrs by my count. I actually tracked the hours each day for the first several months. After that I didn't play the amps quite as much. I never thought the amps sounded bad while the caps were breaking in (note that the CuTF version of these caps is rumored to sound a bit less clinical), but....what I've always heard when installing a new part is that the amp (or pre-amp) for first week or two, will give you a glimpse of what the final sound will be, then the break-in starts and the sound changes over time until the break-in is complete. The "glimpse" about a year ago with these caps was revealing. The amp, for a few days and only at times, opened-up like I've never heard. Then, for the next 12 months it constantly changed, never sounding harsh, but just OK and somewhat unexciting. The challenge with something that takes this long is patience and remembering what the amp sounded like stock and also right after installing the V-caps. After 6-10 months I thought the amps sounded good, but I recalled them sounding magical, though only briefly in October 2010 right after installing the V-Caps and, after several months, you begin to wonder if this "is it". Well, after 12 months (and I'm sure at least 1000 hours) they are finally settling in. At this point the positive day-to-day improvement in the sound is unmistakable. I can only say that, for me, these caps have now proven to be worth the wait. The Torii simply sounds much better in just about every way than it did stock. Bass is deeper and more tuneful. Vocals are better separated and articulated. The sound is more dynamic and more exciting, yet also more relaxing to listen to. The sound is simply more alive and lifelike in every way. I'd like to add that I've not changed anything else in my system over this time, so I know that the improvement is solely in the amp. I encourage those with patience and a desire to really hear all that this amp can produce to try these caps.

My Toriis seem to have stabilized. But then, I suppose there is no way to know for sure they won't change further. I have made a point of swapping the two amps between front and rear channels, because the rear channels do not get the same workout as the fronts. Of course, I have zero point of reference to compare my Toriis to those without V-caps, but I will say that there doesn't seem to be any harshness in the system, while there is remarkable depth and detail.

I realize that,in most solid state stereos, the caps can last for around maybe `20 years with degraded performance at that point of their life, what's the life of the caps in the torrii mkIII? At that point in time I would upgrade to vcaps, I just ordered about100+ caps to refresh My carver tfm 35 amp, they are needed, sounds are slighltly sort of starting to blast out, I think it's still worth My while, and is a very nice sounding amplifier. the vcaps upgrade seems like a winner for Me in the torrii later on.....

My SE84C amp sounds more detailed and natural from the moment I replaced the stock coupling caps with V-caps CUTF.I wish I had done this earlier. I guess that over time I'll be even more happy.My 2 cents.Nico